From Telemundo: StartupPOP Rocks Florida

The participants of the six startups who pitched at the event include Joseph Princz from ‘Capture.it’, Maxeme Tuchman representing ‘Caribu.com’, ‘Owlmo.com’ was represented by Charles Fournier & Tom Bessis, ‘Rentlit.com’ was pitched by Tim Hamilton, Javier Quintana pitched ‘Tonomos.com’ and finally, ‘GreenMDNow.com’ was pitched by Sajid Khan. Dan and Heath congratulated the six startups, thanked the 40+ attendees, and expressed their gratitude to the sponsors. Dan and Heath are in the process of planning ‘startup’ training workshops and expanding StartupPOP to include national ‘pitch’ events. Currently, they are planning an events in Miami and New York City. They have already received interest from promoters in other states who wish to partner and run these events in their local areas.

Founder of StartupPOP, Dan Gudema thanked participants who attended the recent StartupPOP Shark Tank-style startup pitch event held in Fort Lauderdale. Dan along with his partner and co-organizer of Heath Jones expressed their gratitude while talking about the success of their recent StartupPOP event. This was the 18th event from the company, and the first one to take place in Fort Lauderdale this past Wednesday. According to both organizers, the event was one of the most successful events that have been held so far.

“To date we have held 18 events and our more established Boca Raton events typically pull between 65-90 attendees. Since this was our first Fort Lauderdale event we were hoping to have somewhere between 20-30 attendees, but received more 40 attendees, which more than exceeded our expectations,” said Heath Jones, the co-organizer of the StartupPOP while talking about this success. “We considered that a huge success. At one point we were at standing-room capacity only. We had a wonderful time and received a lot of positive and valuable feedback,” he added.

StartupPOP is known for organizing local Shark Tank-style Startup Pitch events with each ‘pitch’ event featuring between 6-11 Tech Startups. The event also featured non-tech startups and was a remarkable success. The audience of the event generally consists of about 15% hidden investors who partner up with the pitching startup and give them the boost that they need to succeed in their future endeavors. This makes this event one of the most unique and fruitful startup gala in the industry and is one of the reasons for it being a huge success.

Dan and Heath also thanked the venue providers for their amazing success in Fort Lauderdale this past Wednesday. Tim Hasse and Grant Stemler of ‘General Provision’ sponsored the event in collaboration of Robert Orkin of Card Connect. Andre Noudjo of Startup ‘Drive Gum’ provided the Videography services voluntarily in this win-win event for everyone who was involved. Entrepreneurs attending from Fort Lauderdale and outside were thrilled to find such a great community event and gathering.

I greatly enjoy attending the StartupPop events and seeing so many innovative ideas from entrepreneurs—the kind of business people who built America.

Ron Poe Secu

A great place to meet, network, exchange ideas.

Geoff Caplan Entrepreneur in Boca Raton

I think people in this location are fortunate to have access to a group like this. Great job Dan.

Beverly Pipes Marketing Consultant, Delray Beach

Definitely worth attending!

S Turner Dean Turbodean, LLC. Business Development Consultants

I attended my first meetup with this group October 15, 2014 where they were hosting a Pitch Event that evening. I have to say congratulations at an event well done. Very professional and extremely well organized.

Alan Boca Raton

Great event, organized well, with good food and intelligent people who were easy to meet and share ideas.

Mark Tennenhouse Software Developer in Boca Raton

Dan’s pitch and networking events thru StartupPOP are a breeding ground for the most promising entrepreneurs and startups in the South Florida region. My company received an amazing press write up in the Sun Sentinel as a direct result of Dan’s influential recommendation after hearing me pitch at his first event.

Erik Mendelson RecordGram CO Founder

The event represented a magnificent growing opportunity for me. The venue was beautiful and the organization was very good. There were plenty of people, food was amazing. The pitches were fast paced, the audience interested and motivated. Investors were there and the panel was very knowledgeable. I learned a lot & talked to people who want to work with me. I'm very happy I got the opportunity to pitch, I would repeat the experience.

Salvi Pascual Apretaste

Dan’s meetup is a great opportunity to validate your next big idea, or hone your marketing message. Nothing beats face to face interaction with an audience of like-minded entrepreneurs, who each bring their own unique perspective.

Mark Chin CEO & Founder w3bstore.com

StartupPOP’s Mission

To build and support the startup community. Startups not only create jobs & opportunities, they help strengthen the backbone of our communities. Created as a way for entrepreneurs, young and old, to get exposure to investors. Investors, angels and VCs count on StartupPOP to find 'diamonds in the rough,' companies that, with the right support could blossom into 'the next big thing.'